1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating ceramic electronic parts and, more particularly, to a method of firing external electrodes with which ceramic electronic parts are coated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ceramic electronic parts, for example, monolithic ceramic capacitors are fabricated through the steps of stacking and pressurizing a required number of ceramic green sheets coated with internal electrodes, cutting and firing the stacked sheets, and then applying and baking external electrodes.
The process of baking an external electrode has conventionally been carried out in the following manner. As shown in FIG. 6A, a powder 2 of alumina or zirconia that hardly reacts with the external electrode is overlaid to a specified thickness on a surface of a sagger 1 that reacts with the external electrode. On this powder 2, a multiplicity of electronic parts 3 coated with an external electrode are placed, and further dried. The sagger 1 is inserted into a firing oven and heated at a temperature below 1000.degree. C., whereby the external electrode is baked.
Alternatively, a separator in the form of a thin sheet having alumina or zirconia powder contained therein may also be used instead of the powder 2.
The powder 2 or the separator is used so that the sagger 1 and the electronic parts 3 will not contact each other. However, there are some cases where the powder sticks to the external electrode during the baking process because the external electrode contains glass components. This necessitates a process of removing the powder which stays on the external electrode, and this process leads to a problem of increased cost.
Also, the electronic parts 3 contained in the sagger 1 cannot be immobilized (i.e., the electronic parts cannot be prevented from moving in the sagger 1). Therefore, the electronic parts cannot be prevented from contacting one another as shown in FIG. 6B during handling, such that the parts may come into contact with one another at portions of the external electrodes 4 after the baking process. Furthermore, the use of powder causes dust generation, worsening the working environment for the fabricating processes of electronic parts, which is another problem.